The Complete 2007 Malaysian GP Review

The balance of power among Formula One's top three teams appears very different after the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Renault - winners of the last two Sepang races as well as the last two championships - are presently not even podium contenders.

Ferrari, who looked poised to sweep all before them during testing and in the season opener Australian Grand Prix, are suddenly embroiled in a genuinely tight championship fight.

And McLaren, who aside from the Juan Pablo Montoya saga and the occasional proactive Kimi Raikkonen performance went largely unnoticed in 2006, are world beaters again.

Ron Dennis's squad have experienced plenty of commanding 1-2 finishes before. But coming so soon after their painful 2006 season, they had extra cause to celebrate as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton mounted the Sepang podium.

While his technical staff received praise for their unstinting efforts, Dennis carefully highlighted just how much difference his change of drivers had made to McLaren's ambience.

"There is a new spirit within the team that I believe has been witnessed by anyone who watched us during the course of the weekend," he said.

"Fernando delivers a wealth of experience and racing capability whilst Lewis continues to demonstrate why he has warranted the enthusiasm of all of us who have worked with him over the years."

Should any significance be read into Jean Todt and Flavio Briatore's Freudian slips in the Friday press conference, when the Renault boss referred to his drivers "Fernando and Heikki" and Todt accidentally mentioned "Michael" winning the Australian GP for his team?

Have Alonso's team switch and Schumacher's retirement turned Renault into also-rans and Ferrari into a team who let races slip from their grasp - while reinvigorating McLaren?

Giancarlo Fisichella vigorously denied that Renault's troubles were due to Alonso's departure.

"At the moment we are miles away compared to Ferrari and McLaren especially, so we cannot fight for a victory in a single race," he said. "It is not because Alonso has gone that the car is no good any more. Even he would struggle to get into the top ten."

And even with Schumacher on board, Ferrari could sometimes be caught out by Alonso's race form. Todt's surprise at being beaten this weekend was comparable to Ferrari's reaction when Alonso proved quicker than expected in Spain last season.

Ferrari were compromised at Sepang. Felipe Massa produced an emphatic, critic-silencing, performance in practice and qualifying, then gave his detractors abundant ammunition in the first half dozen laps of the race, while the need to conserve a weakened engine undoubtedly played on Raikkonen's mind and took the edge off his pace.

But even with those factors considered, Ferrari did not have the clear speed advantage that they had shown in Melbourne, and McLaren have made demonstrable progress. Sepang, therefore, marked the start of a title fight that looked unlikely when Raikkonen romped to victory three weeks ago.

"We know that we are facing very strong teams, and simply today they were better and they deserve their success," said Todt. "Nothing to say. Next week, we will try to do a better job."

So, it seems, will McLaren.

"Success actually heightens every aspect of our organisation, there will be more commitment and we will be trying even harder," said Dennis. "We will try to come to Bahrain with a lap time improvement and we will certainly be in Spain with a significant lap time improvement, and we will do everything we can to win both world championships."

McLaren and Ferrari have been responsible for some of F1's most memorable championship contests, but they haven't truly gone head to head for a title since the Mika Hakkinen/Michael Schumacher era. With the added ingredient of competitive teammates at both squads, their 2007 rivalry could be even better.

Practice

Practice 1 - Friday am

Felipe Massa's Melbourne tribulations had cost him ground to teammate Kimi Raikkonen both in championship and psychological terms. But after first practice in Malaysia it appeared that the Brazilian was on course to bounce back, as his opening lap of the weekend beat Raikkonen's previous benchmark time by half a second.

He then improved to a 1:34.972, to end the session 0.3 seconds clear of nearest rival Fernando Alonso, while Raikkonen slipped to fourth behind Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren drivers appeared to be pushing the limits, with both Alonso and Hamilton taking trips off the road - in Hamilton's case, in the pit entry.

Williams' Nico Rosberg came closest to the top two teams, with test driver Kazuki Nakajima also looking promising in eighth, despite spinning off at Turn 15.

Honda's troubles continued with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello 19th and 20th, but it was a surprise to see Renault almost as far back - Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella only 14th and 15th,

Practice 2 - Friday pm

Second practice saw slower times, but more dominance by Massa, who lapped in 1:35.780, a tenth clear of the field.

Renault returned to more habitual form with second and third for Fisichella and Kovalainen, ahead of Raikkonen, although Pat Symonds confessed that well-timed light fuel runs played a big part.

The McLarens were only ninth (Hamilton) and 12th (Alonso) - a slump that Ron Dennis calmly attributed to race tyre evaluation. Williams impressed again, with Rosberg repeating his earlier fifth place, and Alex Wurz in sixth.

Several teams were caught off-guard by changes in track conditions since the previous week's test. The BMW drivers, Super Aguri and Jarno Trulli were all troubled by handling issues, but none were quite as disgruntled as Barrichello, who ended the afternoon solidly last and "extremely frustrated" by the Honda's fundamental instability issue.

Red Bull had troubles too, with David Coulthard's brake pedal catching on his car's steering column, and Mark Webber stopping on track with what he rather enigmatically described as "running problems" in the final moments.

The only red flag of the day came with 15 minutes remaining, when Christijan Albers suffered a right rear tyre failure under braking for Turn 1. He brought the car to a controlled halt, so only minor debris tidying was required before the session resumed.

Practice 3 - Saturday am

Hamilton topped his first official session by using the softer Bridgestones to pip Massa by 0.142 seconds on Saturday morning, with Alonso half a second back in third.

Robert Kubica's fourth place suggested that BMW had overcome their Friday problems, but Raikkonen's minimal track time fuelled suspicions of engine concerns. The Finn only appeared for seven laps and was fifth quickest.

In an otherwise uneventful session, there was drama at Renault as Kovalainen suffered a repeat of the fuel pump problems that began his difficulties in Australia. He missed most of the hour while the T-car was prepared for him, but was confident that having already completed the test and Friday practice, the lost mileage would be less harmful than it had been in Melbourne.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

For the second race in a row, Rubens Barrichello was the first big name to drop out of qualifying.

He knew after practice that reaching Q2 might be tough, but his task became even harder when Honda discovered gearbox problems shortly before qualifying, forcing him to make a hurried switch to the T-car. Barrichello managed just one compromised lap and ended up a very unhappy 19th even before receiving an engine change penalty because the team ran out of time to transfer his V8 to the spare chassis.

"The team need to do their jobs," he said. "It's not as if someone needs to take responsibility, just calm down a little. It's everything in a rush and everything is not done right.

"When I jumped in the T-car it was not set up for me and we had one steering rack that was a little bit different and we had never tried before, which made it feel very different.

"I am trying to stay positive, but what I don't feel is acceptable is to be in qualifying and have a different steering rack with no time available for me to qualify. That's not right, and that's the human side, and we need to sort it out."

Despite those issues, Barrichello was still a place ahead of Alex Wurz, whose gearbox developed major selection problems before he could set a competitive time.

"It's a shame because this area of the car has been working faultlessly all the way through winter testing, on the dynos and into last week's test," he said.

Toro Rosso and Super Aguri got one driver apiece into Q2, the unlucky ones being Scott Speed (who confessed to a mistake on his best lap), and Anthony Davidson (who blamed a Toro Rosso for obstructing him).

Their back of the grid rivals Spyker slipped further behind the field, despite having made optimistic pre-race noises about their revised aerodynamic package. Christijan Albers returned to form to out-qualify Adrian Sutil, but they would share the back row.

"We've suffered being only team that hasn't tested at the circuit - we've been playing catch up too much and yesterday it was hard to find a clear direction to follow," said Mike Gascoyne, who insisted that the upgrades had "made a difference".

Part two

With dark clouds looming, the 16 remaining contenders poured straight out onto the track when Q2 commenced and their first flying laps settled most of the positions.

Toro Rosso had taken a step forward since Melbourne and Vitantonio Liuzzi reached Q2 with little difficulty. But the top ten remained far out of reach, and he could not better 16th.

He had been ahead of Jenson Button until the Honda's second run. The fact that Button's late charge was required to inch ahead of a Toro Rosso rather than to break into Q1 exemplified the team's descent.

"It's always an experience when your Mum calls you and says it looked pretty shocking on the on-board footage..." said Button.

Super Aguri therefore beat their 'parent' team again, although after his Melbourne heroics Takuma Sato was rather underwhelmed by 14th place.

David Coulthard had to settle for 13th after running wide on his last lap. That the still-developing Red Bull-Renault missed Q1 was not a surprise. That the entire works Renault team also fell short was a major shock.

Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella were 10th and 12th after their first runs, and neither could improve. It seemed that the Finn would scrape through at least, but then Mark Webber moved up to ninth on his final lap, bumping Kovalainen back to 11th. There had been no drama or misfortune - the Renault was simply a row six car in Malaysia.

"The situation is quite clear: we are not quick enough," said Fisichella. "We are just struggling with the general grip everywhere, there is not much consistency and it is hard to make a proper lap."

Kovalainen was also disappointed, but took some solace from having beaten Fisichella after struggling so badly in Australia.

"From a personal point of view, this was a much better qualifying session for me compared to Melbourne," he said.

Ten places further up the timesheets, Fernando Alonso - the man who took Renault to three podiums in the last four Malaysian GPs - was fastest in Q2, just as he had been in the first session.

Part three

With rain still potentially an issue, both Alonso and Felipe Massa put in early banker laps while still laden with fuel - and the McLaren emerged quickest initially, if only by a tenth of a second.

Alonso then improved fractionally when the real action began, getting down to a 1:35.682, while Massa ran wide and remained second.

His task became harder on the final runs, as first Kimi Raikkonen took provisional pole by 0.2 seconds - but only for mere moments before Alonso reclaimed the place by a tenth.

However Massa was unconcerned by this moving target, shrugging off increasing drizzle in the middle sector to grab pole position with a 1:35.043, three-tenths clear of Alonso.

Jean Todt described his driver's performance as "extraordinary", and Massa was also justifiably satisfied with it.

"It was a great lap," he said. "I just tried to do everything I could at the last attempt."

Alonso was reasonably pleased with second, conceding that Ferrari remained quicker, but hoping that McLaren could at least push them harder than in Australia, while third-placed Raikkonen reckoned that he would be more competitive on Sunday.

"I'm still not 100 percent happy with the car on one lap," he said. "Even when I was on pole position in Australia, I wasn't happy with it. We're still looking for it."

Hamilton would start fourth again, confessing to having been too cautious when he noticed the slight precipitation.

Fifth place was hotly-contested between the BMWs and Nico Rosberg, with Nick Heidfeld ultimately earning the position by 0.3 seconds, while Robert Kubica was 0.067 seconds behind Rosberg in seventh and frustrated to run out of a time for a second flying lap for the second race in succession.

Toyota repeated their Melbourne form, with Jarno Trulli narrowly beating Ralf Schumacher to eighth. Mark Webber completed the top ten, and reckoned that was an accurate reflection of Red Bull's current status.

Qualifying results

The Race

By the time the cars exited Turn 1 of the Malaysian Grand Prix, McLaren had overturned Ferrari's command of the early stages of this season's championship, as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton moved up to first and second, pushing Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen back to third and fourth.

But this wasn't a straightforward case of one team's electronics mastering the start better than their rival's. Alonso made a better getaway than Massa and drew alongside into the first corner, but the Brazilian retained the wide racing line, while Hamilton was clearly behind Raikkonen as they approached the bend.

It all changed in the braking area, where the McLarens - benefiting from cleaner tyres having started on the less dusty side of the grid - asserted themselves down the inside. As Alonso passed Massa, so Hamilton thrust ahead of Raikkonen. The British rookie's momentum carried him alongside Massa as well, and he duly accelerated around the outside of the Ferrari and into second place at Turn 2.

An hour and a half later, the McLarens would cross the finish line in the same one-two formation and erase the memories of their winless soap opera of a 2006 season. But while Alonso's drive to victory was to prove straightforward, Hamilton had to fight hard to retain his second place.

Massa's hopes of immediately retaking the position at Turn 4 were quickly dashed, but at the end of lap two he got a run at the McLaren out of the final hairpin and edged ahead on the outside approaching Turn 1.

However, Hamilton stuck doggedly to his inside line and forced the Ferrari to concede. Massa instantly tucked back in behind the McLaren, then surged down the inside at Turn 4, only to oversteer wide on the exit - allowing Hamilton to coolly accelerated back past, and almost letting Raikkonen gain a place as well.

Undaunted, Massa lined up a repeat manoeuvre on lap six. This time Hamilton defended the inside approaching the corner until the last moment, then swept back onto the racing line. As he did so, Massa locked up, shot past the McLaren - and straight off the road and onto the grass. He would lose five seconds, two positions, and any hope of a podium.

"I could see Alonso running away," said Massa. "I had a car with which I could maybe go with him, so I was only thinking of overtaking Hamilton.

"We saw many times cars staying behind others because it's very hard to overtake, but I tried anyway. In the end I'm not sorry I did, because sometimes you have to."

Hamilton showed a little remorse for luring Massa into the error.

"Fortunately I was able to trick him into out-braking himself," he said. "I apologise for that but at the end of the day, we got the points, so it doesn't really matter."

Raikkonen was diplomatic when asked if he felt his teammate and potential title rival had thrown away a race win.

"You need to ask him that yourself," he said. "He had the speed and he had an opportunity and he tried to take it. But it cost him and that's racing."

It had been a very physical start to the race throughout the field. Robert Kubica tapped Nick Heidfeld into a slide at Turn 2, and although both BMWs straightened up and accelerated away in fifth and sixth, the Pole had damaged his front wing and would soon come under heavy pressure from Nico Rosberg.

Both Renaults made very fast starts, but while Giancarlo Fisichella managed to squeeze between the Toyotas and grab eighth, the gap closed on Heikki Kovalainen, and he had to tuck in behind Jarno Trulli in 10th.

The Red Bulls followed them, Mark Webber having been hung out wide through Turn 2 at the start, while Ralf Schumacher had a brush with Takuma Sato at the first corner and fell to 13th.

Sato lost ground and suffered minor wing damage in the incident, and then got tangled up with the Toro Rossos at Turn 4. Scott Speed escaped unharmed and continued in 14th, but Sato and Vitantonio Liuzzi fell to the tail of the field - the latter eventually deciding to pit for a new front wing.

Just behind this mess, Adrian Sutil lost control of his Spyker after "something snapped at the rear". He clouted Jenson Button's already tricky Honda on the way to the gravel and a very early retirement. Teammate Christijan Albers only lasted until lap seven before becoming stuck in first gear and causing the car to catch fire as it overheated while being dragged back to the pits at extremely high revs.

Life was comparatively serene for Alonso at the front of the field. Just as he had so many times during his Renault career, he set an awesomely consistent pace while edging away from the squabbles behind, generally lapping six-tenths faster than his teammate and establishing a 15.6 second lead before pitting for the first time on lap 18.

His arrival in the pit lane came as a relief to Ron Dennis, as a radio failure had left the team boss urgently waving a pit board at his driver.

"From lap ten to the first stop I had no radio," said Alonso. "The same as Kimi in Australia - it seems a lucky thing to have in the race...

"I was lucky that I saw the pit board, so I came into the pits with some doubts if the guys were there or not. I think they adjusted something in the pit stop and then it worked okay."

Raikkonen - who had shadowed Hamilton after Massa's excursion - came in at the same time, but Ferrari's pit work was slower, and he lost more time by rejoining in the thick of the Renault/Trulli battle.

Hamilton stayed out and took the lead for two fast, light fuel, laps, before being short-fuelled in a rapid McLaren stop. The tactic committed him to a brief middle stint, but it ensured that he rejoined six seconds clear of Raikkonen, who had to spend another three laps staring at the back of Fisichella's Renault.

With Alonso deciding to conserve his tyres after noticing some graining on his first set of softs, Hamilton started closing on his teammate and set the fastest race lap during the middle stages. The leader also lost time lapping Liuzzi, and as the final stops approached, Alonso's advantage over Hamilton had dwindled to just seven seconds.

More significantly, however, Hamilton now had a 14 second gap back to the muted Raikkonen, who no longer possessed the crushing pace that he had displayed in Melbourne.

On Friday, Jean Todt had briskly dismissed suggestions that Raikkonen might need an engine change after his water leak in Australia as "speculation". But while it was true that Ferrari hadn't planned to make a precautionary engine swap, they did turn down its performance to ensure that Raikkonen finished the race - although Todt insisted that this was not the sole cause of Ferrari's lack of speed.

"We thought it was wiser to take that into consideration and not to get the utmost of the engine but we are talking about one tenth a lap," he said.

Raikkonen ran three laps further than Hamilton before making his final stop, rejoining 9.5 seconds behind that McLaren with 14 laps to go. Suddenly, the battle for second came alive again, as Raikkonen slashed into Hamilton's margin until he had the rookie in sight as they began the last lap.

Hamilton had switched to the harder tyres for his final stint, but he denied that he had struggled with the compound, instead suggesting that he had relaxed too much, and conceding that the heat was taking its toll by the closing laps.

"I couldn't see him in my mirrors and it was difficult to see the gap on the board," said Hamilton. "I was often looking at the gap towards Fernando and I noticed it was quite big, so I sort of made a mistake and thought that that was Kimi, but I later found that Kimi was only six seconds behind and they told me that he was catching by half a second a lap.

"So I just had to bite my tongue, dig as deep as I could while preserving the amount of energy I had, because it was so tough, and really just tried to stay in front and pull the car to the end and be as consistent as possible."

He succeeded in his objective, crossing the line just 0.8 seconds clear of Raikkonen, to complete McLaren's first one-two finish since the 2005 Brazilian GP.

Seventeen seconds in front, Alonso was already celebrating a deeply significant victory for himself and the team. He had taken just two races to settle into, and start winning for, McLaren - who rarely looked like victory contenders last season. One change of drivers and a reinvigorating winter later, and they are ready to go head-to-head with Ferrari once again.

Massa, the man who dominated practice and qualifying, could only watch ruefully. He had rejoined behind Heidfeld in fifth after his excursion, and that was exactly where he finished 50 laps later. The BMW was running longer stints, and proved plenty quick enough on light fuel to stay ahead of the Ferrari - to Heidfeld's surprise and delight.

"In the early part of the weekend Felipe was so superior," he said. "It's a great - and also a little unexpected - result."

Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Raikkonen on the podium © XPB/LAT

There was less pleasure in the other side of the BMW garage, for Kubica had endured his worst race since bursting into F1 last summer. Struggling with the wing damage but lacking radio contact with the team, he made an unexpected early pit stop but was sent back out without a replacement nose section. The change was eventually made later on, to little avail, as gearbox problems and errors combined with the battered aerodynamics to leave the Pole 18th and last at the chequered flag.

Sixth should have gone to Rosberg, who stayed within range of the Heidfeld/Massa battle until an apparent hydraulic problem forced him out on lap 43.

That promoted the Fisichella-Trulli-Kovalainen train into the final three points-scoring positions. Feeling unwell and struggling with the Renault, Fisichella described sixth as "feeling like a podium finish", and even Flavio Briatore conceded that his drivers had done the maximum with the machinery provided.

Alex Wurz was disappointed to miss out on a point after a very strong drive from the back of the grid. He made the most of a short first stint and soft tyres to put on a series of determined early passes - reaching 11th before his first stop. He jumped Mark Webber during the stops, and resisted the Red Bull for the duration, earning ninth.

David Coulthard would have finished close behind this dice had he not suffered a recurrence of his bizarre Friday practice problem as the brake pedal once again began obstructing the steering column. Struggling to both stop and turn, he wisely parked the Red Bull.

The Hondas again showed better race pace on the way to 11th and 12th. Rubens Barrichello had moved efficiently through the backmarkers after starting from the pit lane, while Button picked up speed once confident that Sutil's assault had not terminally damaged his car.

They finished nose to tail, eight seconds clear of the recovered Sato, who felt that a poor final pit stop cost him a shot at the works cars.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso celebrate a McLaren 1-2 © XPB/LAT

Speed drove a promising race to 14th, losing a few positions through comparatively early pit stops, but comfortably beating the troubled Schumacher, who never recovered from his first lap delay. A slow puncture forced the Toyota to make a premature second stop and consequently to run much heavier than planned.

He stayed ahead of a flu-ridden and understeering Anthony Davidson, who had the recovering Liuzzi and Kubica right on his tail at the end of the race.

For much of the middle stages, the frustrated Kubica had held up a long train of cars, including both Hondas, both Super Aguris, Schumacher and Speed, before finally pitting for his new wing and allowing the group to spread out.

Despite promising great excitement at times, this was not a classic Grand Prix. Alonso was simply too dominant, and the Ferraris' comeback efforts too low-key. But it does appear to have set the stage for a classic season. The top two teams may be a class apart, but that won't matter if the power balance keeps oscillating between them. Any fears of a crushing Ferrari walkover have now been allayed, and both title battles are delicately poised as the teams head for Bahrain.

Race results

56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1h32:14.930
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    17.557
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +    18.339
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    33.777
 5.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    36.705
 6.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +  1:05.638
 7.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +  1:10.132
 8.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +  1:12.015
 9.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:29.924
10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:33.556
11.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
15.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:36.701

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)    44
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)    37
Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    8
Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 2:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        18        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      32
 2.  Raikkonen     16        2.  Ferrari               23
 3.  Hamilton      14        3.  BMW Sauber            10
 4.  Heidfeld      10        4.  Renault                8
 5.  Fisichella     7        5.  Toyota                 3
 6.  Massa          7        6.  Williams-Toyota        2
 7.  Rosberg        2
 8.  Trulli         2
 9.  R.Schumacher   1
10.  Kovalainen     1

Team-by-Team

Fastest times in Q1 and Q2 are followed by an outside front row spot for Alonso, who believes the team have closed on Ferrari. Hamilton is fastest in final practice and qualifies fourth. Determined first corner passes bring them up to first and second at the start.

Alonso proceeds to dominate, delighting his new employers. Hamilton lulls Massa into an error, escapes from Raikkonen with a strong middle stint, then resists the Ferrari to secure second despite his pace fading in the closing laps. McLaren celebrate their first one-two in 19 months.

Struggling for grip and consistency, Kovalainen and Fisichella can only manage 11th and 12th on the grid - and the team admits that this is roughly where the package deserves to be at present. Strong starts, and a more competitive race pace, allow them to take sixth and eighth on Sunday, Fisichella ahead.

A far cry from their Sepang wins in 2005/6, although Kovalainen is relieved to have produced a tidier performance than in Australia, despite having his practice disrupted by another fuel pump failure.

Massa dominates Friday practice, is second on Saturday morning, then takes pole by 0.3 seconds. But his race rapidly falls apart. Passed by Alonso at Turn 1 and Hamilton at Turn 2, he then slides off the road trying to retaliate on lap six and spends the rest of the race vainly chasing Heidfeld for fourth.

With his delicate engine turned down after a water leak in Australia, Raikkonen can only manage third on the grid, and cannot challenge the McLarens in the race. He closes on Hamilton in the final laps, but has to settle for third as Alonso steals the points lead.

Barrichello is fuming after being slowest of all on Friday, then qualifying 19th after a last minute switch to an unfamiliar T-car following gearbox problems. A subsequent engine change penalty leaves him right at the back, but he makes the best of the race to take 11th again. Button qualifies 15th and takes a hit from Sutil at the start, before recovering to chase his teammate home in 12th.

Heidfeld and Kubica are both unhappy with the car on Friday, but rediscover their speed in qualifying to take fifth and seventh. They touch at the first corner, leaving Kubica with wing damage. He rapidly loses ground and pits for repairs, but radio problems mean the team are unprepared.

He eventually gets a new nose cone at his second stop. Gearbox issues and some trips off the road add to Kubica's dramas, and he finishes last. Heidfeld has a much better afternoon, picking up fourth when Massa slips up, then resisting the Ferrari all the way to the flag.

Trulli struggles on Friday, but rebounds to out-qualify Schumacher as both Toyotas sneak into the top ten again - taking eighth and ninth. Slow starts cost them ground, with Schumacher suffering particularly badly.

Trulli spends the whole race between the Renaults, finishing seventh after "minor technical problems" force him to ease off in the final laps. Schumacher can't break out of the midfield crowd, loses more ground when a slow puncture forces a very early second stop, and finishes amongst the Toro Rossos and Super Aguris in 15th.

Webber reaches Q1 again but can't better 10th. His race is less problematic than in Melbourne, but he is one of the few drivers to start on the harder tyre and loses touch with the battle for points. He finishes 10th, pressuring Wurz in the second half of the race.

Coulthard's brake pedal fouls his steering column during practice, and the fault reoccurs during the race, leading to his retirement from 11th. He had run at a similar pace to his teammate, and believed that he might have made it into the top ten qualifying session but for an error on his final Q2 lap.

A very promising practice performance is followed by an excellent sixth on the grid for Rosberg, who maintains his pace in the race. He can't quite match Heidfeld and Massa, and is comfortably ahead of the Renaults and Trulli when a suspected hydraulic problem takes him out of sixth place on lap 43.

Wurz's qualifying is ruined by a gearbox malfunction, and he has to start 20th. He underlines Williams' speed by charging to 11th during the first stint, but can't break into the points. He eventually fends off Webber to take ninth.

Having had chance to understand their new car a little better, STR show improved form in Malaysia. Liuzzi reaches Q2 with little drama, although he only qualifies 16th. Speed misses the initial cut and takes 17th. An early brush with Sato leaves Liuzzi in need of a new front wing.

He sets promising times after the delay and catches Davidson in the closing laps, finishing 17th. Speed runs competitively with the Hondas and Schumacher, taking a respectable 14th after an uneventful race, struggling only with a stiff brake pedal.

The team insists that their new aerodynamic parts are a step forward, despite Albers and Sutil's back row qualifying performance suggesting otherwise. Their weekend gets worse - Sutil crashes on the first lap, Albers runs behind all bar the delayed Liuzzi until his car jams in gear after just seven laps then catches fire as he tries to urge it back to the pits.

Although they cannot repeat their Melbourne form, F1's newest team still manages to out-qualify the factory Hondas - with Sato taking 14th on the grid. He feels that he could have done better, had technical problems not cost him some practice mileage.

Davidson gets stuck in traffic in Q1 and qualifies 18th, disappointing by Super Aguri's 2007 standards. He jumps to 15th at the start, but - troubled by understeer and illness - eventually drops down the order and is 16th at the flag, having lost several places during the first pit stops.

Sato gets involved in several wheel-banging incidents on the first lap, falls to 19th, but recovers well, even overtaking Button early on. A poor second pit stop leaves him eight seconds shy of the Hondas in 13th by the finish.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: Pole position qualifier Felipe Massa is beaten away by Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton makes an even better start than his teammate and slices past both Ferraris to lie second, ahead of Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

Nick Heidfeld settles into fifth ahead of Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Scott Speed, Anthony Davidson, Jenson Button, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Alexander Wurz (who runs wide at Turn 4), Takuma Sato and Rubens Barrichello (who starts from the pits and bangs wheels with Adrian Sutil at Turn 4, forcing the German into the gravel trap - and retirement). Christijan Albers brings up the rear.

Fernando Alonso takes the lead at the start © XPB/LAT

Lap 2: Alonso extends his lead to 2.7s. Liuzzi pits for a fresh nose. Barrichello passes Sato.

Lap 3: Massa challenges Hamilton at Turn 1, but is repelled. He then passes the Englishman briefly at Turn 4 before losing out again, which almost drops him back into Raikkonen's clutches.

Lap 4: Alonso leads by 5.1s. Wurz passes Button.

Lap 6: Massa passes Hamilton at Turn 4, but this time runs wide on the grass and slips to fifth, behind Raikkonen and Massa. Wurz passes Davidson for 15th. Barrichello passes Button.

Lap 7: Wurz passes Speed. Albers pits to retire.

Lap 8: Wurz passes Schumacher.

Lap 9: Alonso turns a 1:37.309 - the race's fastest lap yet.

Lap 10: Alonso improves to 1:37.266. Sato passes Button

Lap 11: Kubica pits and loses time with a sticking left rear.

Lap 12: Alonso laps in 1:36.961. Barrichello pits.

Lap 13: Wurz ousts Coulthard to take 12th.

Lap 14: Alonso posts a 1:36.921 to lead by 13.4s.

Lap 17: Massa, Wurz, Speed and Sato pit.

Lap 18: Alonso pits, as do Raikkonen, Trulli and Davidson. Hamilton leads.

Alex Wurz (Williams FW28 Toyota) passes Ralf Schumacher (Toyota TF107) © LAT

Lap 19: Rosberg, Schumacher and Liuzzi pit.

Lap 20: Hamilton peels in for fresh fuel and tyres. Heidfeld leads.

Lap 21: Alonso runs second from Heidfeld, with Raikkonen stuck in fifth behind Fisichella. Webber and Button pit.

Lap 22: Heidfeld and Kovalainen pit. Alonso leads again. Hamilton sets a new fastest lap - 1:36.701.

Lap 23: Fisichella pits. Raikkonen moves up to third.

Lap 25: Alonso leads by 10.8s from Hamilton, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Massa, Rosberg, Coulthard (still to stop), Fisichella, Trulli, Kovalainen, Wurz, Webber, Kubica, Barrichello, Schumacher, Button, Speed, Sato, Davidson and Liuzzi.

Lap 26: Coulthard pits.

Lap 27: Hamilton is closing on Alonso. The gap is down to 8.7s. Kubica pits for a new front wing.

Lap 28: Schumacher pits.

Lap 29: Alonso waves a fist at Liuzzi after the Italian delays him while being lapped.

Lap 34: Alonso leads by 8.1s and Hamilton is 12.7s clear of Raikkonen. Wurz, Barrichello, Speed and Davidson all pit. Kubica passes Schumacher.

Lap 36: Coulthard and Liuzzi pit. The Scot retires.

Lap 37: Button pits.

Lap 38: Hamilton, Rosberg and Trulli pit.

Lap 39: Kovalainen and Sato pit.

Lap 40: Alonso pits, Raikkonen leads.

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F2007) closes on Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes) late in the race © LAT

Lap 41: Raikkonen pits, Alonso moves back to the front. He leads Hamilton by 12.5s.

Lap 43: With all second stops complete, Alonso leads Hamilton, Raikkonen - 7.7s adrift after gaining 1.7s during the lap - Heidfeld, Massa and Fisichella. Rosberg pulls off to retire.

Lap 45: Raikkonen closes to within 6.1s of Hamilton.

Lap 46: It's now down to 5.6s with 10 laps to go. Alonso, meanwhile, is 18.0s clear at the front of the field. Heidfeld, Massa, Fisichella, Trulli and Kovalainen complete the top eighth. Kubica spins and drops from 15th to 18th.

Lap 48: Another big gain for Raikkonen: Hamilton is only 4.5s ahead.

Lap 51: Raikkonen cuts his arrears to 2.8s...

Lap 52: ...and 2.3s.

Lap 54: Two laps to go and 1.2 seconds separate second from third. Alonso leads by 22.2s.

Lap 55: Hamilton and Raikkonen begin their final lap 0.8s apart.

Lap 56: Alonso scores his first McLaren victory. He finishes 17.5s ahead of Hamilton, who is still 0.7s clear of Raikkonen at the flag. Heidfeld is fourth for the second time in as many races, ahead of Massa, Fisichella, Trulli and Kovalainen.